1. Field of Endeavor
The present invention relates to direct carbon conversion and more particularly to carbon fuel particles used in direct carbon conversion.
2. State of Technology
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2003/0017380 by John F. Cooper et al for a tilted fuel cell apparatus published Jan. 23, 2003 provides the following state of technology information, “High temperature, molten carbonate electrolyte, fuel cells have been shown to be an efficient method of producing energy particularly when the fuel source is hydrogen gas. Carbon as a fuel source in electrochemical cells has been explored.” With the use of carbon instead of hydrogen, the efficiency of the fuel cell increases dramatically, as a result of 100% theoretical efficiency and the possibility of full utilization of the fuel in a single pass through the cell.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2002/0106549 by John F. Cooper et al for a fuel cell apparatus and method thereof published Aug. 8, 2002 provides the following state of technology information, “High temperature, molten electrolyte, electrochemical cells have been shown to be an efficient method of producing energy particularly when the fuel source is hydrogen gas. Carbon as a fuel source in electrochemical cells has been explored.” This patent application teaches the use of carbon particles wetted with molten salts consisting of mixed alkali and/or alkaline earth carbonates. Very high efficiencies were obtained when the carbon particles were produced by the pyrolysis of hydrocarbons in such a manner as to produce disordered or “turbostratic” materials, having a basis graphitic structure but with small dimensions of the domains of microcrystallinity and with increased average spacing between the graphene planes.